Back up your configuration files

Backups are essential if and when you decide to edit the configuration files. It might not seem like a big deal if you change it and then check that it works with some applications. But in the case of the compton.conf file, what if you made some changes to it – only to discover three months down the line (practically an eternity) that your changes either slowed the performance of an OpenGL window application or caused screen tearing with another application? Or what if it wasn’t the changes you made to

compton.conf, but the changes you made to your window managers .conf file instead?

You can see how failure to have backups of configuration files can turn into a long ordeal of troubleshooting and trial and error as you attempt to revert them back to their previous working state. Rather than go through all that hassle, why not spend a few minutes quickly generating a backup of the configuration files.

Using compton as an example to make a backup of a configuration file, all you need to do is enter the following command in a terminal: sudo cp /etc/xdg/compton.conf{,.bak}

The cp command copies the file in /etc/xdg/ called compton.conf. The {,.bak} gives it the same filename but with the .bak file extension. You can do as many backups as necessary and a simple ls -l in the /etc/xdg/ directory would show you when they were created or modified.